........connected! Connected by Internet to the outside world that is. The local whiz-kid set us up at home, wireless and all. We are ecstatic; a home connection for a reasonable fee is almost unheard of in the rural areas. Due to the young man’s technical wizardry and his insistent mind can we now sit at our dining room table, each behind our own laptop, and let the world come in. And, what a world it is!

The news explodes into our living room, invades our kitchen, our garden, our minds; the world’s hot spots present themselves at our dining room table and our conversations become fiery and make our bloodpressure rise. I was not  prepared for this onslaught. I know, we have choices, we can select other sites, find more calming influences and yet…..; the world hooks us. Its unrest is omnipresent, it permeates all news and information sites; there seems no escaping. I am saddened by the increased suffering created by more wars and violence; I am thoroughly disheartened by the inability of our leaders to calm the raging fires, to find a way out of the deep-dug trenches of unwavering political convictions; and, I am disgusted by their instigation of and contributions to the situation; oil on fire.

I am reminded of a conversation I had this summer with one of the workers. Seated on the rainwater cistern in the warm sun, feet dangling, biting in the juicy red, ripe flesh of a pomegranate, spitting the seeds in the nearby garden while two young boys were practicing their slingshot skills and a pigeon fell out of the tree. He had never been good at shooting he said; his aim was unsteady, he never enjoyed practice. Besides he was not interested in shooting at ‘nuisance birds’. Then he added a comment that never left my mind: ‘whatever their nature, all creatures want to live’. How the conversation ambled from practice shooting to one of the more recent wars in the Falklands (Malvines for Argentineans) I do not remember, but I remember the connection to his previous statement that all creatures want to live. He felt strongly that the war had been a waste; that it had created hardships for people who were not interested in, or would benefit from, its outcome. He was keenly aware that the country boys who were summoned to war had fought someone else’s battle; some paid with their life. We sat silent for a long time, each with our own thoughts.

For one full year we were out of the turbulent fray of world news and its subsequent spin. For a long time we were so preoccupied by our own lives that we hardly had time to think, let alone be interested in events beyond the walls of our house and the fence of our land. News reached us nonetheless, carried by mail, by mouth, by paper, but without its pictorial  images it did not have the gut-wrenching impact. Nonetheless, we were drawn into political discussions on many occasions. Argentineans are well informed in general and many have an opinion on a wide variety of topics, which they express without any hesitation. I fit right in! What strikes me each and every time is how different their take is on the political events of the day, different from the spin and the smokescreen talks; how astute they are in seeing through the lure of engaging words, how easily they detect the untruth of self-serving chatter. They do not take the bait; they have been there before.

The weather forecast was often brought by our workers; they would let us know whether to haul wood, cover the plants or plough the land. I also relied on predictions carried through the air. Our area has a large population of bare-faced ibis trekking to and from their feeding grounds, the flooded fields. I see them flying overhead morning and evening in small family groups. When the weather is changing, especially when a cold front moves in, they aggregate in larger flocks and fly in V-formation away from the cold. They flee only to return when weather improves. They are my weathervane, much like the Canadian geese in Colorado. I rather liked it that way.

We thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to check information online, now from  the convenience of our home. Research is not something we could easily indulge in before: San Rafael has few bookstores and even fewer books in a language we master. Regretfully no libraries at all. I have missed the quiet atmosphere of a library, the smell of books, the ready available knowledge just a handreach away. The Internet fills the gap in some ways. Thus I was able to research the signs of canine pregnancy, with the baffling realization that we might have a pregnant dog. We were able to figure out the needs of our many plants and act accordingly; we can salivate over the opportunities for travel. So nearby and yet so far away.

Being wired has created delight and disillusionment; connection and thorough disconnection; it turns out a blessing and a curse.